[IxDA Discuss] What tools do you use for prototyping?

[Robert Hoekman, Jr.]

>
> XHTML+CSS, Javascript, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash
> ActionScript, etc. This is what our products are built using, so it's
> high time those in the field who to call themselves "designers" stop
> avoiding learning how to build prototypes using real technology
>

There are also some good reasons *not* to use these tools.

First, prototype code tends to be hacked together just well enough to make
something look like it works (or work, but minimally), and when code has
already been written, developers will often attempt to reuse it, often
without changing it. It's never a good idea for this less-than-optimal code
to live on in the final product, but very often it ends up there
nonetheless.

Second, when you prototype the front-end - the part the customer actually
interacts with - the people who have to sign off on the work often think
most of the work has been done. As in, "It looks like it's done, so there
must not be much left to do". After this point, the pressure can start
getting very strong to deliver something quickly, despite that the *real*
product may take months to build.

-r-